


The Rise of Thuelab

by Nakira Taisho (nakirataisho)



Series: Miraculous One-Shots [9]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alix is 'Bunnix' but isn't called that, I had fun writing this, Time Travel, for my audience of one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29927352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakirataisho/pseuds/Nakira%20Taisho
Summary: Alix goes on a trip and finds her Miraculous...
Series: Miraculous One-Shots [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/744561
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	The Rise of Thuelab

After the start of Terminale, friends started drifting apart as they started applying for university and focusing more on their futures. Alix, for one, had decided she wanted to be an Egyptologist and had already been accepted at Alexandria University in Egypt. In the middle of the first semester of Terminale, her father took a short vacation from the Museum to go with her to tour the school and see a dig near the city. They weren't permitted to actually enter the site because they weren't on the team, but the one in charge did let them look at some of the artifacts that had been unearthed.

Alix saw a vaguely familiar amulet, but she couldn't be sure if it was actually what she'd seen that time travelling hero wearing. Of course, she knew that Thuelab was herself, but it was still hard to believe that she'd be a hero eventually.

"This amulet…what is it?" she asked the professor and he shrugged.

"We're not sure," he admitted. "It looks like a symbol of Ḥeḥ, but there's no record of anything like it. We're not even sure it's an amulet."

"Can I get a closer look at it?" she tried, though she knew from growing up in a museum that she wouldn't be allowed to touch something like this.

"Of course," he laughed. "But you can't touch it, of course." He pulled it out of the case carefully and held it out for her to see. As she looked, despite it not being as clean and shiny as Thuelab's Miraculous (which was actually a decoration she'd had on her headpiece), she could tell what it was. "It looks like it's made of stone. I've been pouring over documents and reliefs but there's no evidence of anything like it."

"Huh…," she murmured, trying to think how she'd end up with it if it ended up in a museum. The professor took her tone as a cue to put it back in the case and then her presence was all but forgotten as he and her father got into a conversation of its origins. When they were gone, she took a chance and gingerly picked it up. Nothing happened, so she carefully dusted some of the grime off of it.

When it was clear of debris, the amulet started glowing and Waqt appeared. She knew that the powers involved time travel, and she knew she'd have to act quickly to avoid getting into trouble for stealing an artefact from a dig. This would potentially ruin her chances to get into Egyptology, but clearly, she was supposed to know that she would be Thuelab or she wouldn't have been allowed to know the hero's identity. So, she looked to the slowly awakening Kwami, wanting to let them do the talking since she didn't know if her future-self (apparently this was the moment, but time travel was complicated) had told _her_ Kwami about the past meeting, and she didn't want to unintentionally change anything.

"A pleasure to meet you," Waqt greeted in Ancient Egyptian and Alix was glad that she'd studied the old language before.

"People don't speak that language anymore," she told them in French and they took a moment to adjust.

"Ah, so I suppose I've been sleeping for quite the time," they laughed, and Alix figured that Kwamis somehow knew every existing language even if they hadn't been awake when a language came into use.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm Alix."

"Waqt," the Kwami introduced. "I sense that you are distressed."

"I am, a little," she admitted. "My father and the professor will be back soon and I'll get in trouble for taking this." The Kwami examined her and bobbed their head a little.

"You've been touched by my power, I see," they murmured. "Then there is no time to waste. It shouldn't be too much trouble. Unless you've been here longer than a year?"

"We only got to Alexandria a couple of days ago," she told them.

"Very good. Is there somewhere you can make a replica of the Miraculous near here or where you live?"

"Oh!" she gasped. "I hadn't thought of that…but they'll be able to tell that it's fake…"

"A human using my power can only make lasting changes within a year of their present," they informed her. "I'll explain further after you've made the replica. You don't have a proper headdress, I see, but holding it before your crown will suffice." She nodded slowly and did so, lifting the Miraculous in front of her forehead and repeating the words that she'd heard her 'future-self' use to summon her transformation.

When she was transformed and before the adults came back to check on her, she held out her tool, which was a large Ankh. She'd watched how it was used before, held by the lower handle to use the hole to open the window to the future, so she did that and found herself enveloped in a white sphere with the walls covered in Ankhs holding little blurry windows. She touched one and it cleared to show the Timetagger incident, where (she supposed it would now be her future and past selves) she helped Ladybug and Chat Noir with the time travelling villain from the future. She pulled her hand back and touched another to see the first Akuma ever, her classmate Ivan. She frowned and touched another to see herself packing for this trip.

She touched that window again and it expanded so she could step through. She went into her own room and was surprised to see that the Miraculous fell into her bag and Waqt appeared beside her. She looked at the Kwami in confusion.

"Within the year limit, you step into your own body when you travel to the past," they explained. "If you bring someone from the past to your present, there will be two of them, their past self and their present self. Now, when are we?"

"A few days ago…while I was…um _am_ packing for the trip to Alexandria. I had… _have_ an art club meeting before our flight…so I can use some clay to make a copy of this…," she trailed off, picking up her Miraculous. "This is so weird…"

"You'll become accustomed to it," Waqt assured her. "When is this meeting?" She looked at her alarm clock.

"In about thirty minutes," she sighed. "I'm packed so I figured I could clean this up before we go." She went to her bathroom to do just that, gently rinsing the miraculous off and then carefully wiping the rest of the debris from it with a soft cloth. Her phone went off just as she finished, and she put the Miraculous into her pocket. "Well, let's go."

Waqt flew into her hat as she put it on and headed out.

"Where are you going, Alix?" her father called.

"I have an Art Club meeting before we leave," she told him and hurried to the school. When she got there, she bypassed the spray paint and her current project for the sculpting tools.

"Everything okay, Alix?" Marinette asked, barely looking up from her miniature sewing project.

"Yeah, I just want to try something different," she laughed. "You're the only one here today?" she asked, though she knew the answer. Nathaniel was working on the comic with Marc, while Rose was brainstorming songs with her bandmates and even Chloe was up to something else. Marinette told her as much the first time and this time was no different. She carefully sculpted a copy of her Miraculous and fired up the kiln.

"Don't you have to leave soon?" Marinette gasped.

"It'll be fine," she assured her. She could always 'redo' this moment after she'd finished and just work on her painting before going to meet with her father. When her little sculpture was finished, her phone went off with a call from her father. She ignored it in favour of hurrying out to continue her task. She found a spot with plenty of privacy and showed the replica off to her Kwami. Waqt nodded in approval.

"Now, we need to take it to the far past, you'll know when, and bury it," the Kwami said lightly.

"But it's made from modern clay, they'd figure that out after examining it," Alix argued.

"You don't trust me?" they accused.

"No…I trust you. But I know how they handle artifacts. They run tests to find out roughly how old an object is, what it was made from and stuff like that…modern clay has a different chemical makeup from clay used in Ancient Egypt and--"

"You'll understand in the past," Waqt sighed, cutting her off. She sighed and transformed, going into the little time bubble again. She searched for the right window and she found one that seemed to be in Ancient Egypt. Something about it felt right, so she picked that one. She stepped out into the desert and dropped her transformation where no one could see her.

"Okay, now what?" she questioned and Waqt flew off, seemingly uncaring if anyone saw them. Alix hurried after her Kwami. "Wait! What if someone sees us?"

"Beyond the year, you would have to avoid your past self unless circumstances dictate otherwise," they sighed.

"Like when I met my future-self during a villain attack? She made sure I met her…because it had to match her memories?"

"That's…mostly accurate. But if you've gone past your own existence, purposefully, denizens of the time will see you as one of their own. And Kwami are known in this time," they laughed, answering the question she was about to ask. They led her to a building and when they went inside, she saw that it was an artisan's workshop. "Put your sculpture into that vat," they instructed, pointing their tail at a container. Alix hesitantly followed the instructions, dipping the replica into the milky liquid inside the vat.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Leave it there for a bit while we get some food. I'm starving!" Waqt told her and flew out of the building. Alix hurried after the Kwami, unsure but following instructions. They went to the market and a food vendor gave Waqt a meal, bowing and saying something in reverence. After her Kwami had eaten, they returned to the artisan's workshop. "Okay, it should be ready."

"For what?" she questioned, retrieving the replica from the liquid to find that it was nowhere as smooth as it had been. "What happened?"

"This artisan is a Guardian," Waqt laughed. "I'm not sure of the ingredients or _how_ it does it, but that liquid changes one material to another, similar material."

"Oh, so this changed it from one type of clay to stone?" she asked and Waqt hummed in agreement before flying off again. Alix groaned and followed. Waqt stopped when they were a good distance from the town. "Now what?"

"We bury it," Waqt said matter-of-factly. "Right here. Then come back to this spot outside of the year to retrieve it."

"But what if someone finds it before that?"

"They won't," the Kwami assured her as she shovelled sand aside with her hands to bury her replica. "Recall, you can only change things within a year of your present."

She nodded slowly and buried the replica. Then, she transformed yet again and in her time-bubble found the right window, about a year and a half before the 'present' and went through. She found the replica untouched and looking exactly as she'd found her Miraculous. Finally, she went back to redo her Art Club day (again) and got lazy, not wanting to make any actual changes or relive her tour of the university, she simply went back to the moment she took her Miraculous from the dig and replaced it with her replica before the Professor and her father got back to check on her.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this was spawned from me not liking how they handle Time Travel in canon and the fact that Rabbits are associated with the MOON not time. There's also the wtf about the watch, but I digress. Same powers, different animal (would be a 'lost' Miraculous from a different box than canon) and obviously a different name.  
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)  
> On a separate note, I've turned on Comment Moderation and deleting the discussion that's completely unwarranted because wow.


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